We have a man who opened an account with $100 on Monday of this week. He had proper ID and seemed normal, so to speak. The next day he called and asked for his balance, the CSR told him $100. He wanted to know why there was not a $50 million wire in his account. (He was expecting it from Bill Gates, you see...)The CSR told him that no wires came in. He started harassing her. He wanted to know who her boss was, she told him. He said that he wanted to know who her boss was, because if the CSR and the Mgr were dead (OMG) he wanted to know who to call about his wire. He then said that if the wire didn't come in by Friday, there could be kidnapping and physical harm.

The branch admin filed a report with the police and asked if she could also file a restraining order to protect her branch and was told NO, those were only for dometistic disputes.

Is this a fact, or did the person taking the report just not know?

The branch is freaking out...and yes, this is true.

I do not know the answer to the question, but I would contact the STATE police and I would not hesitate to contact the FBI with it either. I would also check your K&R policy to see if you have to give them notice of a threatened kidnapping.

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...those were only for dometistic disputes.

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With no claim of expertise in this area, I doubt very seriously that what you were told is correct. It may be that you cannot get an order for the branch. The threats, express and implied, were in reference to specific, named people, not the bricks and mortar. Those employees have the right to be secure in their workplace. Please contact your bank's attorney, not the police, for further advice on whether some sort of protective order is available. Inquire also about the most expeditious means for terminating the customer relationship.

Just an update, the guy called the branch admin this morning and freaked out again, then said he was going to the branch (after she told him that would not be a good idea). The branch mgr called the cops, they picked him up on the street, he was wigging out.
They hauled him off to the local psychiatric hospital for evaluation. Maybe after he's medicated, he'll be alright.

BTW-Branch Admin said to me: See, I can still drive the men crazy...

Let us know if his wire comes in too.

And make sure to close the account today so he has no reason to come back. While the police might not issue a restraining order, they may call it a no trespass order or something else in your area which should apply to stores / businesses.

The account has been closed and a bank check forwarded to his house. We hope he doesn't come back to try to cash it...
Andy, that was funny... If it did come in, we figured we would all split it!

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He wanted to know why there was not a $50 million wire in his account.

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Poor guy must be waiting for his wire from Nigeria.

In at least one state I've lived in (probably all), you can trespass an individual from your property.
Just let any individual know they are unwelcome on your property. If they show up again, they are trespassing. Pretty simple. I'm guessing that with the exception of an individual following you home, that works as well as a restraining order.

You can get a restraining order on anyone. It does not have to be a domestic relation. There is something called an order for protection, that is mandated by court systems in domestic violence and assault cases. Maybe the person who answered your call was confused.

We had an extremely similar case to this at one of our branches last year. Our local police department issued a Notice of Trespass. This person is no longer allowed on bank property. Very scary for all the staff.

We have a similar situation with a very unstable customer and we finally did close his account. We had allowed him to keep it open because 'he was OK when he was on his meds' for quite some time, then one day supposedly off his meds he came in and threatened to kill himself and everyone in the bank that wouldn't let him have his money (of which there was none) and claimed we were writing checks on his account..stealing his money...you see the pattern here. We did call the police to have him removed, about 3 times even after we closed the account. He can't get an account anywhere in town now with his record, and they still won't put him in the psych ward because he hasn't actuall injured anyone or himself. Let me tell you we lock the doors now when we see him and don't even let him in the door!!

I would imagine that the issuance of orders of protection or restraining orders will vary depending on state law. In our state orders of protection are only issued in domestic protection cases. You do not have to be married, but there must be a family relationship or some living together relationship to obtain one. Restraining orders from the criminal prospective can be issued against anyone, but only by the Judge after a hearing or upon the agreement of the parties. If you want to seek the issuance of a restraining order in civil court, it requires the filing of a lawsuit and providing proof to the court that the restraining order is required, usually a lengthy process. On occasion, we have used what I would suppose has been discussed as the no trespass solution. It requires that the offending person be delivered notice that they are not to be on certain property and if they are, they will be charged with trespass. If the person comes back on the property, a misdemeanor trespass chage is placed against them in the local district court.

Isn't it illegal to make a "Terrorist Threat" against a financial institution?

Folks:

There may be some confusion here about agencies. Normally, law enforcement agencies don't issue restraining orders -- the court does. The police enforce them -- and is doesn't make any difference if the petitioner is a person or an entity. Please contact your local prosecuting attorney's office -- family violence section -- for more information.

Many states have laws regarding "criminal trespass." I would suggest you send this person a certified letter advising he is not to enter on any bank occupied property for any reason and will be subject to arrest if he does. I would also send a copy of this letter with a complaint to the local police jurisdiction.

Also. many states have laws covering threats and threatening. It would seem this persons words reach that level and a criminal complaint is appropriate.

We had a similar client at a branch I worked at in Washington State. The bank attorney went through the steps to have a restraining order put into place which made it much easier for us to get police into the branch as soon as he darkened our door steps.

This didn't mean he wasn't going to show up...in fact he did many times but because of the restraining order the police were VERY quick to respond.

We had previously tried the trespessing ideas and found that they didn't hold the same level of threat that the restraining order did. I supose that all depends on your police department, but with ours, the priority placed on restraining orders was much higher than criminal trespass.